


Improbable

by ChokolatteJedi



Series: Mutant!Neal [2]
Category: White Collar, X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, Crossover, Crossovering Exchange, Gen, POV Alternating, Sneakiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 18:59:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12348687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: Peter and Neal get a special assignment





	Improbable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/gifts).



> I couldn't resist when I saw your prompt. I hope you enjoy the treat!

"Good news, folks!" Peter declared. "Our corrupt TV anchor came quietly and confessed as soon as Diana started to question him." The group mumbled congratulations at her, but were clearly waiting for another shoe to drop.

"Which means," Peter said a little too enthusiastically, pulling a stack of folders off the window sill, "mortgage fraud for everyone!" The team groaned loudly, but accepted the folders as they were passed down.

Neal, of course, passed them without taking a folder himself. He would be more useful on a different case. Something more exciting than mortgage fraud.

"Neal," Peter beckoned him.

"Peter, you know I know nothing about mortgage fraud," Neal began. "Am I supposed to stare at one of those files until the answer magically appears?"

"What?" Peter seemed to realize that Neal's hands were empty. "No. That's not it. Come on. We've got a meeting to get to."

"Ooh, where're we going?" Neal asked cheerfully, grabbing his jacket from his chair as they passed his desk.

"To meet a Senator!" Peter replied.

"Road trip?" Neal asked. "Because we have to stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the way. They've got this piece on-"

"No, this one's local," Peter interrupted him.

Neal felt his gut clench. He had no interest in being in the presence of New York's current darling senator.

"Which one?" He asked innocently.

"Robert Kelly!" Peter declared.

"Hmm..." Neal pretended to think, despite the ice creeping through his stomach. "The name sounds familiar."

"He's the one advocating against mutants right now," Peter hinted.

"Ooh! Right!" Neal snapped his fingers. "Very controversial."

And very bad for actual mutants like Neal.

"That he is," Peter confirmed.

"And what does he want with us?" Neal asked. "Did someone break into his office? Ooh, is this campaign fraud again? Are there hookers involved?"

"What? No!" Peter scowled. "He wants to talk to us about his current project."

"The mutant thing?" Neal asked. "What on earth can we help him with? Wait, are you a mutant? How could you never tell me! Does El know? What power do you have? Is it the power to eat deviled ham?"

Peter gave Neal the look. "One, deviled ham is delicious - especially El's. Two, I am not a mutant. Three, if I was, of course El would know."

"Of course," Neal agreed.

"And four, I have no idea what he thinks we can do. Maybe he's learned of a mutant art thief?"

The ice in his stomach was spreading to his veins, but Neal forced his face to remain calm. "DC Art Crimes is much closer for a Senator," he mused. "But we are the amazing Caffery and Burke, so he might have bypassed DC..."

"Burke and Caffery," Peter corrected absentmindedly.

 

* * *

 

"So, Senator Kelly, what can we do for you?" Peter got right down to business as soon as the pleasantries were out of the way. Neal's question had echoed his own; what could the Senator possibly want with them?

"You're aware of my crusade?" Kelly asked.

"Finding and registering dangerous mutants?" Peter recapped.

Kelly nodded. "Yes. I believe that you and Mister Caffery here are in a unique position to help us catch several mutant criminals."

Neal grinned. "That would be cool! What can they do?"

"I don't know," Kelly confessed, frowning. "I don't know who they are specifically. I'm counting on your expertise to figure out which crimes are committed by gifted thieves, versus which crimes are committed by... _gifted_ thieves."

"I don't-" Peter began.

"Impossible things!" Kelly said, throwing his hands up. "Thefts that couldn't be completed without some kind of magic or mutation! Crimes that no one could ever solve! Do you know there are mutants who can walk through walls? Or control minds? Now what is to stop them from walking through bank vaults? Or controlling security guards?"

Neal smirked and stared off into space, apparently thinking about the wonderful crimes he could commit with such powers. "Neal!" Peter snapped. "Focus."

"Sorry," Neal said, completely unappolagetically.

"So you want us to figure out which crimes might have been committed by mutants, instead of regular people?" Peter asked Kelly. "Simply based on the _impossibility_ of the job?"

"Essentially, yes," the Senator replied. "I want you to find patterns, so we can get these criminals off the streets."

"If they can just walk through walls, how would you keep them imprisoned?" Neal asked, a little too smugly for Peter's taste. He was probably still dreaming about all the things he could steal with that mutation.

"We have ways," the Senator confirmed. "There are methods to imprison people like this, depending on how their specific mutations work."

"Okay, so do you have a place in particular you want us to start?" Peter asked.

"Here at home!" the Senator declared. "Got to protect ourselves before we go helping the rest of the world. I'm putting together a task force that will start investigations like this across the US, once it gets approved. I need your team to be my test case, Agent Burke. I trust that Mister Caffery here will help you determine the difference between... improbable and impossible."

Neal didn't rise to the bait for once, for which Peter was extremely grateful. With a little more small talk, he managed to get his CI back out of the Senator's office without trouble. Once they were back in the car, he decided to poke a little. "You got quiet there. Still dreaming about the ability to pull off the perfect con?"

Neal gave a half smile. "Just wondering what will happen if we fail."

"Why would we fail?" Peter demanded, barely refraining from slamming on the brakes and causing an accident.

Neal shifted in his seat to face Peter better. "Peter, you know how criminals are."

"Unfortunately," Peter agreed.

"The best ones don't share their secrets. I don't."

"What about-"

"Moz is the exception. But I've kept secrets from him, and he's done the same. I don't know how half of the best do what they do. I have suspicions, sure, but no proof. I know how _I_ would do it, in a perfect scenario, but I don't know what they _actually_ did. The best thieves wouldn't tell their best friend how they pulled a job. How are we supposed to figure out if they are a mind-reading wall-walker or if they're just extremely nimble and charming?"

Peter considered this. It made sense. Even when Neal actually explained cons to him, he got the feeling that details were being left out.

"I mean, let's take that mutant he talked about. Say this guy gets into a room that's completely locked, super secure door. Let's say a regular, human, thief did that. Did he slip through a ventilation shaft? Did he drug a guard with something that made them susceptible to the suggestion that no one passed? Did he befriend the owner and pull an inside job? No one knows, and he'll never tell. So why would he tell if what he really did was walk through a wall? Hell, he'd probably go with the drug story anyway, just because it sounds better!"

"Fair point." Peter conceded. "So what are you suggesting we do about this?"

"I'm not suggesting anything," Neal said, holding up his hands defensively. "Given the choice between mortgage fraud and reexamining some of the best cons pulled in the US in the last decade I'll take the latter every time. I was just wondering what would happen if we can't _prove_ anything.

"We're not going to start a witch hunt," Peter began.

"Oh, did you see the articles framed in his office?" Neal interrupted. "The witch hunt has already begun."

"We are just going to do our best, and that will be enough," Peter finished as though Neal hadn't spoken.

But, as confident as he sounded, Peter couldn't help but think about Neal's words for the rest of the ride. He had made more than one arrest where he didn't know every single detail of the crime. How often could seduction be augmented by some sort of pheromones or mental mutation? How often did 'slipping past' security cameras involve invisibility or something similar? Come to think of it-

"When you said you used carrier pigeons-"

"Please, Peter," Neal scoffed. "If I was able to walk through walls do you really think I'd have let _you_ catch me?"

Peter huffed, but he knew it was the truth. And so was Neal's point. What if they couldn't manage do what the Senator wanted? He was certainly a driven man on this topic, and he must wield a lot of power in the FBI, to even get their team involved in the first place. Peter's gut clenched.

 

* * *

 

As Peter dropped Neal off at June's, Neal could see that the gears will still turning for him. Hopefully, Neal had instilled enough doubt to kill the effectiveness of their task force; or at least enough to deflect suspicion from himself if it failed.

 _We appreciate that, Neal, and hope it isn't necessary,_ the Professor's voice echoed in his mind.

_Neither do I, Professor, but he clearly knows about some of your people. He was talking about Kitty, right?_

_We fear so._

Neal sighed. The sigh was echoed by Mozzie, who greeted him at the top of the stairs with a glass of malbec. "So, ready to make up some plausible alternatives to mutant abilities?" he asked. Neal's kitchen table was already loaded down with papers and books.

Neal considered that as the icy fist in his stomach began to un-clench slightly. Between himself, Mozzie, and the Professor, they'd find a way to keep themselves and the other mutants safe from Senator Kelly. They were ready to pull off the impossible. No - the improbable. 

Neal took a long gulp of his wine and smirked. "Let's do it"


End file.
